Survey: Smiling Workers tend to be Older Workers

February 8, 2005 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - Older workers are more likely to find workplace inspiration from their employers - a lot more likely.

A news release said a new survey found that employees 55 and over are more likely to be inspired at work than younger people (18-34 years old) by a margin of 43% to 28% – a finding that helps to explain why more older than younger workers (53% to 43%) say they are willing to worker harder.

Covering 7,718 US workers 18 and older, the New Employer/Employee Equation Survey was conducted by Harris Interactive, Inc. for Age Wave, a consulting firm about aging issues and for fellow consultant The Concours Group. It was sponsored by 24 corporations.

“Companies have to wake up to the fact that their young workers – their managers and skilled professionals of tomorrow – are the most dissatisfied and least engaged workers today,” said Tamara Erickson, executive officer of the Concours Group. “At the same time, workers approaching retirement are the most energetic, focused and loyal. The question companies need to answer as we approach a skilled labor shortage is, ‘How do we better engage the younger workers while retaining the older workers, or at least postponing their retirement?’ “

Satisfaction Gap

According to the announcement, the study found a large gap by age group in workers who describe themselves as “extremely satisfied.” Some 19% of mature workers are extremely satisfied versus only 11% of mid-career workers and only 9% of young workers. While 68% of mature workers have some level of satisfaction with their jobs, that number dropped to 57% for mid-career workers and down to 55% for young workers.

Longevity equates with engagement – at least according to the survey. Some.64% of mature workers say they really care about their organization versus 55% of mid-career workers and 47% of young workers.

Young workers are also more stressed outside of work with 20% reporting to pollsters that they are overwhelmed with responsibility versus 14% of mid-career workers and 11% of mature workers. Seven of 10 young workers are struggling through financial issues and a quarter are trying to cope with relationship problems.

The pool of young workers is more ethnically and racially diverse than its elder group. The diverse workforce population increased from 12% of mature workers to 49% of young workers.

More information about Age Wave is at http://www.agewave.com . More information about The Concours Group is at http://www.concoursgroup.com .

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